iPhone Kill Switch Kills Smartphone Thefts, Windows Phone 8 And Android Kill Switch Expected Soon

The Apple iPhone kill switch is also killing the number of smartphone thefts, according to crime data. So now Microsoft and Google are expected to implement a Windows Phone 8.1 and Android kill switch, respectively, in order to help the users of their smartphones.

In a related report by The Inquisitr, Apple has been working hard to reduce the number of iPhone 6 leaks coming out of China by hiring a special security unit to enforce their policies. Regardless, photos of the iPhone 6 were leaked anyway and we had a chance to compare the size of the screen against the iPhone 5S.

The iPhone kill switch is actually an optional feature provided by Apple which is under the settings menu and is tied into iCloud. If the iPhone kill switch is enabled, Apple users are able to remotely locate their missing iPhone on a map and then either lock it or erase everything on the smartphone. But a one-year-old initiative by the government called “Secure Our Smartphones” is hoping that both Windows Phone 8 and Android will take up the challenge to secure their data from thieves (just not from the NSA, you know).

It is estimated that 3.1 million smartphones were stolen throughout the United States during 2013, but New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman says that the implementation of the iPhone kill switch is noticeable in the crime rates:

“The statistics released today illustrate the stunning effectiveness of kill switches, and the commitments of Google and Microsoft are giant steps toward consumer safety.”

Because of the iPhone kill switch, it is claimed that robberies of Apple products “fell 19 percent while grand larcenies dropped 29 percent in the first five months of 2014 compared with a year earlier…. Robberies and grand larcenies involving a Samsung smartphone, which didn’t have a kill switch during much of that time, rose more than 40 percent. Samsung introduced a kill switch in April…. In San Francisco, iPhone robberies declined 38 percent, while robberies of Samsung devices increased 12 percent…. In London, Apple thefts declined 24 percent, while Samsung thefts increased 3 percent.”

San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon believes that the government should require technology similar to the iPhone kill switch in all mobile devices:

“Compared to all of the cool things smartphones can do these days, this is not that advanced. I believe ending the victimization of millions of Americans is the coolest thing a smartphone can do.”

In response to the success of the iPhone kill switch, Microsoft’s Window Phone 8 kill switch will be a “theft-deterrent feature” offered in an upcoming update and the Android kill switch will include “a factory reset protection solution to help deter smartphone theft.”